01/05/2026
5 things I got wrong in year 1 of building a SaaS in India ↓
1. Under-pricing. ""Indian SMEs are price-sensitive"" is true. ""Charge less and they'll buy more"" is not. Under-priced software gets treated as disposable.
2. Building for ""the market"" instead of one customer. Our best features came from sitting with one ₹12 Cr distributor for 3 weeks. Our worst came from ""what SMEs want"" roadmaps.
3. Assuming WhatsApp was enough for support. Fine for deals. Not enough for implementation. Text messages don't scale past 50 customers.
4. Saying yes to too many customizations. Every ""just add this one field"" adds technical debt. We now say no more than yes — and customers respect it more.
5. Not investing in onboarding early. A customer who gets to value in week 1 stays 5 years. A customer who struggles in week 1 churns in month 3. Onboarding is a product function, not a support function.
All 5 had the same root: trying to apply Silicon Valley playbooks to Indian SME reality.
What's the hardest lesson you've learned building in India?